Posts tagged ‘E-commerce’
Why Cross Checking is Important When Using a Contact Validation Web Service
I have been working with web services for over 6 years now and have helped many companies both big and small to resolve their frustration with the online world of bogus lead chaos and bad affiliate programs.
With all of the information and services available to help validate your inbound leads you need to make sure that it is doing more than just a simple check for validity. There are a lot of Lead Validation services out there claiming that they are the best, but let’s really ask ourselves, what are they doing that is so unique? How will they really be able to assure you that they are catching your bad leads?
Good Question.
February 17, 2010 at 3:04 pm serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
Need to Verify Addresses? 5 Things to Look for in a Service Provider
Nearly every company doing business on the web today can benefit from performing simple validation and verification against the contact forms on their website. Each piece of customer contact data has the potential to hinder a company’s business processes if the information is inaccurate, incomplete or fraudulent. Perhaps the most key–and often most inaccurate–piece of information captured is the postal address.
Research shows that performing validation and verification on addresses can help businesses improve deliverability and shipments, reduce overhead spent following up on bad data, and reduce waste associated with Undeliverable Mail and over-production of direct mail pieces.
A quick search for Address Verification or Address Validation on a search engine like Google™ will yield pages of results for companies offering tools to validate and standardize postal addresses.
So how does a company seeking to improve communication with customers and reduce their direct mail waste, choose the right service provider?
Here are 5 important things to look for in an Address Verification or Address Validation service:
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February 10, 2010 at 10:11 am serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
What is a Credit Card BIN and How These Six Little Numbers can Protect Your Bottom Line
For businesses and consumers, processing credit card transactions has come a long way. Previously businesses needed two forms of identification, to physically look at the card, review the signature on the back…then lay the card flat on card imprinter, place carbon paper over the card and force the handle from left to right for 3 carbon copies. 
This process was neither good for the business, who had no way to actually verify if the card had funds available on it; nor was it good for the consumer, who now had 3 unsecure copies of their credit card floating around for anyone to use for mail orders or internet orders.
The advent of electronic credit card processing and later the use of Card Verification (CVV) codes have dramatically changed the game and now go a long way to protect both businesses and consumers.
The proliferation of pre-paid credit cards and gift cards, however, has chipped away at some of that protection as far as businesses are concerned. Pre-paid cards are essentially “anonymous” and businesses do not have many options for protecting themselves against the improper use of these cards. This is especially true for businesses who’s “goods” are recurring service fees or incremental fees based on usage that must be billed monthly for example. Because there is no “line of credit”, a pre-paid card holder may have the amount of the fee available for the first authorization, but will not likely have it available for subsequent months.
Direct Mail Marketing Isn’t Going Anywhere Yet
While many industry experts are calling 2010 the year that will “kill marketing as we know it”, some feel that we shouldn’t be so quick to write off some of the good ole’ tried and true methods. I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal that further convinced me. The article, “Firms Hold Fast to Snail Mail Marketing” talks about several companies who made a shift away from their direct mail campaigns and found their business suffered direct losses from eliminating this type of communication with their customers and targets.
Direct mail marketing can still prove to be a very effective way to reach customers and prospects. Especially for small businesses with a unique offering who are looking to stand out and continue a dialog with their audience. I think the main issue with Direct Mail though is that it needs to be done smartly, with consideration that people are constantly being bombarded with messages, offers and promotions through other mediums. Direct mail should not equal waste. It should not be a waste of time for the recipient, environmental resources or budget dollars.
Businesses who plan to use Direct Mail as a part of their marketing efforts in 2010 might consider committing to make their campaigns more effective and less wasteful by putting in place “greener mail” initiatives. Each year, the US postal service attempts to deliver billions of pieces of mail that will never reach their intended recipient due to being undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA). Using tools that verify and standardize addresses is a quick and cost effective way to reduce the impact of direct mailings.
Check out our best practices tip sheet “Greener Mail: 6 Tips Simple Tips for More Eco- and Budget Friendly Mailings” for more information.
Posted by: Gretchen N.
January 13, 2010 at 8:37 am serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
When the Going Gets Tough the Tough use DOTS Web Services
With the economy amidst a downfall you need to exercise your budget, right? Service Objects can help you lean down expenses and keep moving forward with DOTS Lead Validation.
Efficiency is key in this day and age, and what directly attributes to efficiency? Streamlining and Automation!
Can you tell just by looking at your leads which ones are HOT and which ones are BAD?
Add up all the money you are spending on the cost of incoming leads, marketing campaigns, and sales team follow-ups. It quickly adds up, especially if your HOT leads are becoming weak during your qualification process. What a waste of time, energy, opportunity, and most of all money!
What if you had instant visibility into your leads? Imagine immediately calling to follow-up with a lead while their interest is still fresh. There would be no doubt that you would easily increase sales and efficiency. 
DOTS Lead Validation will do all the work for you within milliseconds! You will instantly know if the lead is a business or consumer, if their telephone number, mailing address, email, and IP number are valid, and if that lead is worth your time and money.
As proof that DOTS Lead Validation works, check out our Web site, we are HIRING not firing, because we are doing well despite the recession. Why? Because DOTS Lead Validation works for us too 
So, keep your business focused on strong leads during tough times. Get strong and get going with DOTS Lead Validation!
Thanks for reading this week,
Ericka J.
March 27, 2009 at 4:10 pm serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
Three most common questions…
Since the launch of our Service Objects’ new Web site, there are three questions that most customers and prospects still have on the tip of their tongues regardless of their interest:
1) How much does it cost?
2) What is a transaction?
3) What is my login?
1) How much does it cost?
a) The price of each DOTS Web Service varies in regards to the number of transactions and the actual pricing tier that it falls under.
b) Our pricing is based on volume discount on a Month-to-Month or Annual basis. This choice is entirely up to (you) the client; however we always try to work within your budget. We can also create a custom contract that will allow both parties to be satisfied.
c) Please have a look at our Product Directory, which also includes a helpful pricing link for each DOTS Web Service.
2) What is a transaction?
a) Service Objects defines a “transaction” as every time you call one of our DOTS Web Services, or ping one of our databases. Even on the odd chance that the call to our services is not successful, you are still accessing our database and it will still be considered a transaction.
3) What is my login? (three part question)
a) Website login
i) Create an account
ii) If you are a current customer and have not created a Web site login you will need to do so.
iii) This login is for your use only, each person within your organization can have their own secure login information.
iv) Please go to our Registration Page to create your login.
b) Client login to check usage
You will need two items of information to check your usage:
i) The original email used to create your account
ii) Your license key
c) To check your usage please use the following links:
i) Trial Key Usage
ii) Production Key Usage
Thank you for reading and I hope that I was able to answer your questions.
Ryan M.
March 10, 2009 at 10:10 pm serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
Sales Tax and Address Validation: The Easy E-Commerce Solution
The economy is forcing many stores to close their doors, and as a result, we are seeing more and more businesses move to the internet. What was once a cash and carry nation, has evolved into a PayPal™ and UPS™ standard way of life.
With e-commerce redefining the business world, the little fish finally get to swim in the same pond as the big fish. Anyone with a budget and a vision can launch an online store front, and that’s where we can help.
Service Objects offers fast and easy solutions to help merchants successfully run their online businesses. Our DOTS FastTaxSM Web Service calculates sales tax and use tax, based on street address, zip code, or simple city/state/county information. It can easily integrate into your shopping cart, so the correct tax rate will auto-populate during checkout. We host the tax data and update it monthly, so you don’t have to waste time looking up tax rates or pay a third party to audit your books.
Along with calculating correct sales tax, another critical component to running an online business is verifying customer mailing addresses. DOTS Address ValidationSM is our most popular service – it corrects and standardizes U.S. addresses, as well as determines whether an address is deliverable or not. By using DOTS Address Validation to correct shipping and billing addresses at the point-of-entry, you can prevent the hefty cost of returned packages. We are one of only a few companies that the USPS® trusts with their data, and with monthly data updates, you get only the most accurate mailing information every time.
Combining the power of DOTS Address Validation and DOTS FastTax offers online merchants a simple and effective e-commerce solution. For less than the price of a latte each day, you can calculate tax rates and correct addresses for all of your online customers.
Service Objects offers a diverse range of products to help your online business run smoother, faster, and more efficiently. Give Service Objects a call today, to find out how we can build an affordable solution for you. You can also find out more about our solutions by visiting our Web site.
Thanks for reading,
Marissa B.
February 26, 2009 at 6:58 pm serviceobjects2001 Leave a comment
The New Face of Business
Not too long ago, Sears and Roebuck revolutionized American retail with mail order catalogs. Retail has come a long way since then, with the Internet paving the way for e-commerce and eliminating the physical boundaries that used to separate markets. With e-commerce now accounting for billions of dollars in sales and revenue, it’s hard to remember the days before online order forms and PayPal.
The technological age has radically changed the way we do business. Purchasing electronics used to mean going to Radio Shack or Circuit City, but now we turn to our computers and search Amazon and Google. Traditional face-to-face business interactions have become a virtual connection between an IP address and a server. The business platform has changed, and with it we have lost our ability to identify consumers.
So in the age of online business, how do you differentiate suspicious consumers from genuine customers? How do you know if the phone number and address they provide is in fact real? And how can you tell if Jane Smith’s credit card really belongs to her? E-commerce has created countless opportunities for online buyers and sellers, but it has also introduced a world of identity theft.
When I first started working at Service Objects over two years ago, I had no idea that there was someone working behind the scenes to protect businesses from online fraud. Since 2001, Service Objects has been helping online merchants gain insight about their consumers – helping them discern true customers from fraudulent users. In the new face of business, Service Objects can protect online merchants and mitigate fraudulent threats through our extensive offering of DOTS Web Service solutions.
I know the Internet hosts an extensive amount of fraud, so it helps me sleep a little better at night knowing there is a company out there whose focus is to ensure companies know who they are dealing with, and that my identity is protected.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog and thank you for reading!
Marissa B.
Do you have questions for Marissa B.? Connect with her today at communications@serviceobjects.com.
